Seven Layer Confusion Cake
by Marenfic
Summary: Olivia fell in love with Sebastian. Just not the real Sebastian. Femslash: Oliva/Viola written for Yuletide 2007.


**Seven Layer Confusion Cake**

Olivia is just a little confused. She thinks about Sebastian, but not the one she's dating. She thinks about barely curved hips and petal soft skin and the sweet smell of grass tinged with the hint of sweat. For the first time in _never_ she cares about soccer and after a lifetime spent in boarding schools, she suddenly can't get the thought of her roommate out of her mind.

She's dating the twin brother of the girl she fell in love with while said girl was pretending to be said brother.

Olivia figures she's entitled to a little confusion.

*

Sebastian (the real one) is telling her about the show his band just booked for the Halloween festival but Olivia isn't really paying attention. It's not that she isn't interested—Sebastian really is a great musician and she's looking forward to hearing the band play. The problem is that her eyes keep straying to Viola, who is sitting at a table with Toby and Eunice and looking miserable.

She interrupts Sebastian with a squeeze on his arm and tells him she's going to go check on Viola. She doesn't wait for him to answer.

Olivia walks over to their table and grabs Viola's hand, gives it a tug.

"Go to the bathroom with me?"

Viola nods and scoots out of the booth as Toby makes a lame crack about girls and restrooms. Olivia keeps hold of her hand and tries not to think about how soft Viola's palm is, how her fingers are long and delicate. By the time they reach the restroom Olivia's hand is starting to sweat and she lets go of Viola's hand, tries to be subtle as she wipes her palm against her skirt.

Viola gives her a sad smile. "That obvious, huh?"

"You look like you just found out your dog died, or like maybe North Carolina was cutting their women's soccer team. What's wrong?" Olivia fights the urge to stand close and rub Viola's back like she would with any other girlfriend in distress. She hates that she can't trust herself to just be a friend without any of the crazy tingly things her body has never stopped doing every time Sebas. . . _Viola_ gets close.

Viola raises an eyebrow. "Trust me, if the Tar Heels ever cut soccer I'd be rolled up in the fetal position tearing my hair."

"Or planning your next great boy impersonation," Olivia interjects with a quick smile before getting serious again. "Vi, what's really going on?"

Viola shrugs. "Duke and I. . . ugh, let's just say I think I'm date-free for the Festival."

Olivia finds her arms going around Viola of their own accord. She hugs her friend and pets the long silky hair that could never be mistaken for her brother's.

_I'll be your date_ she thinks. But she knows she can't say that and not risk Viola seeing how much she really means it in _that_ way.

"I'm sorry Vi," she says instead (and she is sorry that Viola is sad, but not about the other). "Sebastian's band is playing so I'll be dateless too. We'll make it a girl's night, ok?"

As Viola nods against her shoulder, Olivia closes her eyes.

_Totally_ tangled web.

*

Breaking up with Sebastian is surprisingly easy. He nods and gives her a hug and says that he's really too busy with his band for a girlfriend anyway. He's a good guy, but he's not _the_ good guy.

Neither is his sister, technically, but sometimes Olivia thinks that might be ok.

Other times she thinks about how she's a debutante and how she's always planned to go to college and pledge Kappa like her mom and grandma and about how debutante sorority girls are supposed to fall in love with guys with so-gay-they-have-to-be-straight names like _Sebastian_. They are totally not actually supposed to _be_ gay for the straight guy's sister. So when Viola asks her if she has any ideas for Halloween costumes, Olivia laughs and tells her she's got the perfect plan.

*

The Festival starts with a hayride and when she and Viola show up, everyone starts laughing and clapping.

"Whas'up, Homies," Viola crows as she gives a few of her teammates high fives. "This is my _smokin'_ sis, Viola. Don't tell me you don't want to tap that."

Olivia smiles as a few of the guys whistle and cat call, but she isn't really feeling it. Ever since she watched Viola get dressed up, she's been regretting her amazingly stupid idea. Pulling on Viola's soccer uniform hadn't helped the butterflies in her stomach _at all_, not with the way it smelled like Viola's laundry detergent, which in turn made it smell like _her_, not to mention the way she'd had to sit still while Viola put the long brown wig on Olivia's head and pretend like she wasn't at all affected by how close Viola was or how she looked like a boy again and Olivia couldn't really figure out which part of everything had her feeling tingly in really good places and. . .

_Jesus. Get a grip, Olivia_ she thinks. Olivia has always known how to get what she wants and she has a plan. Sure, maybe it's a stupid plan and maybe that's because she doesn't know exactly who it is that she wants (or even if she can have her. . .him. . .her), but it's a _plan_. Throwing up is not in the plan. Neither is hyperventilating. Being cool and fun and flirty _is_ so that's what she's going to do.

One of the girls from her English class tells her she played a great game on Thursday and Olivia smoothes back her brown ponytail, tilts her head, and says "Aww, thanks" with a sweet smile, in a perfect imitation of Viola.

Viola laughs and mouths _nice_ at her. Olivia nods and smiles at her the way she used to when Viola was a boy.

*

It's amazing how easily Viola slips back into Sebastian. She does that dorky swagger and talks in that working-through-puberty boy voice and Olivia can't believe that anyone ever bought it for two seconds. Viola is _not_ Sebastian and no breast-binding bandage or slouchy pair of jeans will ever trick her again.

Still, the thin veneer of boy makes it a little easier for Olivia to swallow her fear and put the moves on her best friend.

Flirting with Viola is super-easy because it's not _that_ different from how they usually act. It's just an extra something when she laughs and smiles, the slightest change in the way she looks at her, touches that are casually intimate and lingering in a way that can't quite be mistaken for merely friendly.

When they bob for apples, Olivia laughs along with a sputtering Viola and cups her face, brushes her thumb across the drops of water and lets her hand linger a beat longer than necessary. When they grab some hot chocolate, Olivia dips her finger in Viola's whipped cream and wipes it against Viola's lips before sucking off the left-over residue. When they whisper about the trashy costumes some of the girls are wearing, Olivia lets her lips brush the shell of Viola's ear. She notices the way Viola shivers and doesn't pretend otherwise. When they go through the Haunted Maze she clings to Viola even though she isn't the least bit scared by the teachers' lame attempts at haunting. By the time the sun has gone down and they're listening to the _real_ Sebastian's band, Viola is sending her little confused glances. Olivia just sways her hips to the music and moves close enough that she's brushing against Viola as she does it.

Viola looks nervous, but she doesn't move away.

*  
Viola's quiet as they walk back to the dorms and now Olivia is the one who's nervous. She's realizing her plan pretty much relied on sending all the right signals and waiting for Viola to make a move. But Viola isn't a guy and though tonight has made it pretty clear to Olivia that it's completely ok with her after all, she thinks maybe wooing girls takes skills her debutante sorority-girl-to-be life hasn't provided her. Olivia isn't sure what she should do next.

She unlocks their door and steps inside. A hand lands on her shoulder and Viola spins her around.

"Liv. . ." Viola's voice trails off and her face scrunches up in that way she has when she's confused and unsure. Olivia knows how that feels, has been confused and unsure for weeks now. But tonight things are crystal clear for the first time and it's simple, really.

Olivia Lenox is dressed up as the girl she's in love with, who is dressed up as her own twin brother, who Olivia dated because she hadn't realized it was his sister she really wanted.

Maybe she's making the biggest mistake of her life, but Olivia is used to getting what she wants because she goes out and gets it. So she steps into Viola, tips up on the balls of her feet, and presses her lips to the soft fullness of Viola's mouth.

Viola hesitates for a split second and then there's a sound coming from the back of her throat that makes Olivia shiver and grab Viola's arms. Viola presses into her and kisses back and when her tongue darts out and touches Olivia's lips, Olivia makes a sound of her own.

A second later Viola breaks the kiss and steps back. She's got this adorable glazed look on her face and Olivia laughs, breathless.

"This is too weird," Viola stutters, then starts pulling off the sideburns and wig that transform her into Sebastian. Olivia stops laughing and takes a step back. For a second she'd hoped. . . but she always knew it was a long shot.

"I'm sorry, Vi. I know, I'm _not your type_. I just. . . "

Viola drops her wig and grabs Olivia's hand. "No, I mean yes, I mean. . . Ok, look, I'm dressed like my brother and you're dressed like _me_ and . . . ugh." Her face crinkles up into a momentary grimace and then Viola is cupping Olivia's face with one hand and pushing the brown wig off Olivia's head with the other.

"I'm not Sebastian," she says softly, like maybe she thinks this is news to Olivia.

Olivia tilts her head and smiles. "Turns out it was never Sebastian I fell for."

"Oh," murmurs Viola, and Olivia isn't sure what that means, whether she's going to have to find a new roommate and nurse a broken heart or whether maybe it's something else. Then Viola is smiling at her and her face morphs into that determined, competitive, _predatory_ look she gets before hitting the soccer field.

Olivia swallows and wets her suddenly dry lips. Viola's eyes track the movement of her tongue and then she slides her hands down Olivia's arms and pulls her until they tumble down onto Viola's bed in a pile of _all girl_.

*

Olivia figures that web just became a little less tangled.

Their bodies are a whole different matter.


End file.
